COMMUNICATION UPDATE
Over-the-Counter Medical Expenses: Health Care Reform legislation introduced new plan provisions to Health Care Reimbursement Accounts. The first provision to take effect is the change in eligibility of over-the-counter medicines.  Effective January 1, 2011, over-the-counter(OTC) drugs and medicines (other than insulin) will require a physician's prescription or OTC Prescription form in order to qualify as an eligible medical expense under health care reimbursement accounts that allow OTC.  The provision impacts the use of health benefit cards.  A health benefit card can be used to purchase OTC medicines provided that a physician's prescription is presented to the pharmacist, the pharmacist dispenses the drug in accordance with applicable law, an RX number is assigned, the pharmacist retains certain records and the records are accessible by the employer's plan or its agent.  A physician's prescription must include: the date prescribed, name of patient, name of the OTC medicine(s), and the physician's address and license number.  NOTE: a new physician's prescription will have to be submitted to a pharmacy every time you purchase OTC medicines.  For manual reimbursement of expenses from your benefit account, a physician's prescription or OTC Prescription form only needs to be submitted to CareFlex once during the plan year and will stay on file for the duration of the plan year.  A new physician's prescription or OTC Prescription form is required every plan year.  Click on a link below for additional information and an updated OTC Prescription/Medical Necessity Form:

Health Care Reimbursement Accounts Important Upcoming  •  Changes OTC Prescription/Medical Necessity Form
*OTC change has no impact on HRA plans that only reimburse out-of-pocket expenses associated with a high deductible health plan.